--- title: "A 2020 Review of the World’s Most Popular Kubernetes CNI" source: "https://www.tigera.io/blog/a-2020-review-of-the-worlds-most-popular-kubernetes-cni/" --- [Company Blog](https://www.tigera.io/category/company-blog/) # A 2020 Review of the World’s Most Popular Kubernetes CNI By [John Armstrong](https://www.tigera.io/blog/author/john-armstrong/) on Jan 06, 2021 • 2 min read 2020 hasn’t been the easiest year, to put it mildly. However, despite the disruptive events that occurred, the Calico community, supported by the team at [Tigera](https://www.tigera.io/), remained focused on achieving some ambitious goals. The good news is that Calico continues to be the most popular open-source networking and network security solution for Kubernetes. **Every day, more than 1 million nodes are powered by [Calico](https://www.tigera.io/)**. During the past year, we saw the number of Calico users increase by 50% and the number of clusters running Calico increase by 85%! Here are some other achievements worth noting… - In the [independent benchmark comparison of Kubernetes CNIs](https://itnext.io/benchmark-results-of-kubernetes-network-plugins-cni-over-10gbit-s-network-updated-august-2020-6e1b757b9e49) published by Alexis Ducastel, Calico was the clear winner. Particularly impressive was the exceptional performance of Calico encryption, which created a “real wow effect” among all of the CNI’s tested. ![Cartoon cat above a monitor showing Linux eBPF, Standard Linux, and Windows HNS](https://www.tigera.io/app/uploads/2020/09/Calico-dataplanes02-791x1024.png) - Calico became [the only CNI to support three (3) dataplanes](https://www.tigera.io/blog/announcing-ebpf-mode-ga/) from a single, unified control plane: a state-of-the-art pure eBPF data plane, a standard Linux networking data plane, and a Windows HNS data plane…with a fourth VPP data plane in development. Providing this wide choice of dataplanes for our thousands of users ensures that choosing Calico is the right decision for many years to come. - We rolled out [free Calico technical training](https://www.tigera.io/events/) and launched a free, self-paced [Calico certification program](https://academy.tigera.io/course/certified-calico-operator-level-1/) with more than 1,700 enrollments in the first week! - We published a new eBook, [Introduction to Kubernetes Networking](https://www.tigera.io/lp/kubernetes-networking-ebook/?utm_campaign=ebook&utm_medium=social&utm_source=calico-cert), written by Alex Pollitt, CTO and Co-Founder of Tigera and Co-Creator of Project Calico. We also engaged with our thriving Project Calico community throughout the year, and are very grateful for the continued support of [contributors and maintainers](https://github.com/projectcalico/calico/blob/master/AUTHORS.md), users and enthusiasts who have helped make Calico what it is today. Learn more about Calico’s 2020 year in-review [in this blog](https://www.tigera.io/blog/calico-in-2020-the-worlds-most-popular-kubernetes-cni/). ————————————————————————————- [Free Online Training](https://www.tigera.io/events/) Access Live and On-Demand Kubernetes Training [Calico Enterprise – Try Now](https://www.calicocloud.io/) Kubernetes Security, Networking and Observability in Hybrid and Multi-Clouds [Open Source](https://www.tigera.io/tags/open-source/)[Project Calico](https://www.tigera.io/tags/project-calico/) ## Related posts [![What’s new in Calico: Spring 2026 Release](https://www.tigera.io/app/uploads/2026/06/Whats-New-in-Calico-NEW-TEMPLATE-2026.png)](https://www.tigera.io/blog/whats-new-in-calico-spring-2026-release/) #### [What’s new in Calico: Spring 2026 Release](https://www.tigera.io/blog/whats-new-in-calico-spring-2026-release/) By [Veronika Smolik](https://www.tigera.io/blog/author/veronika-smolik/) on Jun 2, 2026 Kubernetes has come a long way since its debut in 2014. It’s gone from running a couple of containerized microservices to orchestrating fleets of production workloads spanning everything from AI agents to full scale VMs... [Read more](https://www.tigera.io/blog/whats-new-in-calico-spring-2026-release/) [![Kubernetes Operational Maturity: Secure and Resilient Cluster Federation with Cluster Mesh](https://www.tigera.io/app/uploads/2026/05/Kubernetes-Operational-Maturity-Secure-and-Resilient-Cluster-Federation-with-Cluster-Mesh.png)](https://www.tigera.io/blog/kubernetes-operational-maturity-secure-and-resilient-cluster-federation-with-cluster-mesh/) [Technical Blog](https://www.tigera.io/category/technical-blog/) #### [Kubernetes Operational Maturity: Secure and Resilient Cluster Federation with Cluster Mesh](https://www.tigera.io/blog/kubernetes-operational-maturity-secure-and-resilient-cluster-federation-with-cluster-mesh/) By [Veronika Smolik](https://www.tigera.io/blog/author/veronika-smolik/) on May 25, 2026 Practically no one runs a single Kubernetes cluster in production these days. Maybe that’s how it started but data sovereignty requirements, acquisitions, AI initiatives and the need for edge servers, among other considerations, have pulled... [Read more](https://www.tigera.io/blog/kubernetes-operational-maturity-secure-and-resilient-cluster-federation-with-cluster-mesh/) [![What’s New in Calico v3.32](https://www.tigera.io/app/uploads/2026/05/Green-Please-use-a-different-background-color-alternately-1.png)](https://www.tigera.io/blog/whats-new-in-calico-v3-32/) #### [What’s New in Calico v3.32](https://www.tigera.io/blog/whats-new-in-calico-v3-32/) By [Reza Ramezanpour](https://www.tigera.io/blog/author/rezar/) on May 13, 2026 We’re excited to announce the release of Calico Open Source v3.32! 🎉 This release corresponds with Kubernetes v1.36 (Codename Haru) and it goes beyond just sharing a cat as the mascot of the release, it... [Read more](https://www.tigera.io/blog/whats-new-in-calico-v3-32/)